Forgotten Legend
by Kasan Soulblade
Summary: The story of the final Regeneration journey, as told by Kratos


"Forgotten Legend"

One-shot TOS outline, by Kasan Soulblade

"Once, long ago, there were two worlds. A child god-ling lost in his grief, driven to near madness at the death of an angel, gained the power of the Elder Gods and split twain that which was whole. While just and noble were his cause, grief and pain soon wore out all that was good in the child-God's soul, and the act of splitting that which was whole in the name of preserving all life changed.

Power, justice, discipline, once the strengths of the child God twisted, grew tainted as time and pain festered in his heart.

On his throne in the heart of the world the child-God in his arrogance and hate demanded a sacrifice, and the Angels, created by him, bound to him in ways non living understood, served as an extension of his will. They guided children to his alters, placed the wings of their order and the agony of their existence upon their sacrificial Chosen's shoulders.

Yet never was the God appeased. He would turn from the tormented faces of the child Chosen's as their purity was not enough for his ultimate end.

So the bones of children and gathered about his throne upon heaven while their blood and tears marked the trail of their torment and loss, that those who came after them would have to follow.

Ages passed and the pile of bones grew higher and the shame of the angels for causing such pains mounted.

Shame eventually spurred the Angels' to action.

One Angel planed and schemed in the fires of one world, his motions slow and subtle worked away at the foundations of the God's power.

The other Angel turned in full from the order of Heaven, became a mortal and courted a woman who bore his son.

The second was caught, his family killed before his eyes, he was again forced to become a being of Heaven.

So the chastised Angel went up unto the heavens, certain that his family lay upon the tainted world, lost to him by the icy claws of death.

When at last another child, another Chosen came to the first steps that would lead to the bloody path to heaven. The Chosen, she stood with two children at her side, a magi-child and a young swordsman with a passionate heart. The Angel in mortal disguise came to them and beheld a child who bore likeness to his child lost so long ago. Together they fought, to "save" the world. Others joined them, a misplaced Assassin from the other world, a Teacher whose blood was bound to the magi and whose hands could mend any wound. They climbed the twisting tainted paths, rose unto the spire of heaven, and it was then they knew they were all deceived.

The Angel called forth his wings, and weighed down by the shame of millennia, the deaths seen and brought by an eternity the angel demanded that the Chosen be brought to heaven and the Angels' child denied him.

The thunderous clash of blade on blade brought down the Lord of Heaven, and in his monstrous fury leveled his hand upon those who dared deny him his sacrifice and brought down holy death. But deaths' talons sheathed in light missed their mark, as the scheming angel sent forth his agents to save the children and Chosen.

Salvation became captivity and the Chosen and her friends fled their ally turned foe and found sanctuary in the world not their own. The worlds could have been twins, for there was yet another tower to Heaven, another Chosen to bear the twisted path.

Yet though twins they 'should' have been they were not, while one lived and flourished the other died, and the Chosen was merely a catalyst, a key that opened prosperity to one world and closed it for the other.

The misplaced children of the dying world traveled the length and width of the flourishing world. Their adventures and deeds of good were many, and others joined them.

The Chosen of the flourishing world, with his gleaming blade and razor wit and ever straying hands, he joined them first.

A girl whose very soul had been chained to a stone was re-awoken to her lost time and life, the executioner's blade guided by her righteous vengeance rested in her small hands, and she came to them second.

A fallen noble with noble heart, his hands were bound by the whim of cruel fate and upon fulfilling his vengeance did his join the Angel's son to heal the broken world, and he came last of all.

Together they traveled and awoke the primal Gods forced into slumber by the child-God's whim. The worlds seemed to be healing but when the light of true heaven was to be gained the Angel ordered his son to stop, that to awaken and release the final Gods would lead to great woe.

Unheeded went the Angel's words and when the final spirit was awoken the very earth was split in twain. The old order before the Angels and child-God came spoke of a Tree, a great bringer of life, but twisted were the worlds, twisted was the guilder of the worlds, and so too did the great Tree become twisted. The source of Life became a source of Death, and a great weapon meant to destroy the Tower of Heaven was leveled against he tainted Tree, and from its blinding light did the tree fall and disappear unto the heavens, and the worlds though wounded persevered.

Illness fell upon the child-Chosen of the dying world, so the tainted heart, the tainted God, was forgotten and a cure was found. Upon the night of their saving the child-Chosen did the Angel's son come to know his true linage, the scheming of the traitorous Angel came undone, and what all assumed to be a mere child who had joined them dropped all masks and revealed himself to be the Lord of Heaven in mortal guise. A fierce battle raged and the Lord of Heaven and Angel's son battled on the thresh hold of an aged craftsman den, the angel of schemes saw his plans fall to ruin and gathered the last of his people and fled into the very heart of winter and sea. The Angel and son were separated by the will of the Lord of Heaven, and so knowledge came and with it helplessness as well.

Wounded, betrayed, the battered remains of the mortals who defied the power of Heaven went to the feet of the tower of the child-God, there they were yet betrayed. Not by a child they had presumed an ally, but by the Chosen of the flourishing world.

Deceived and mislead by a trail of false promises the Chosen had made his own fate and again roared thunder and steal in the home of the child-God. Brought low by death it was only in death did he redeem himself.

With his final breath the traitorous Chosen bade the Angel's son to save the Chosen of the dying world, and opened the path that he could never follow, for the heart frozen in death, lungs stilled and drowned in crimson, can guild no one.

The Chosen of the dying world was taken and the remaining few who defied heaven went up the twisting path, and fought the soulless Angels, falling one by one so that only the Angel's son stood against the Lord of Heaven.

Blade in hand, defying the Light stood the Angel's son, yet his actions came too late and the fallen Angel who had died so long ago was revived through the Chosen. The Lord of Heaven was brought low by farther grief as the one who he so strived to bring back turned first to save him, and at his denial of her attempts to bring him to true salvation she then turned and embraced death.

Raging the Lord of Heaven turned upon the Angels son and all seemed lost until those who had fallen to the diabolical traps of the child-God's house came back to save the Angel's son and save the world.

The lord of heaven fell from the might of the Hero's, the Chosen was saved, they vowed to mend the split worlds now that the tainted God had fallen. To the last spirit, the King of Spirits, they went. Walking through the sacred forests of the Elves, they came unto the clearing where the Spirit rested. And awaiting them was the Angel who had a human child.

"Let it be known, that by my death will this Seal break, and only then will it fall." Spake the Angel as he brandished his sword of flame. "For I am the guardian of this Seal, the embodiment of the King of Spirit's power. I am the lone Guard to keep HIS power from being misused. Know that only through _me_ will you gain that which you seek.

"This power will not be misused," So swore the Angel's son. "We will mend the worlds and fix the errors of the past with this power, and that is all."

"So swore another when he split the worlds, prove yourself than. Measure yourself against me so called Champions and Hero's of this new order, and prove to me that it shall succeed where others have failed."

Raising a hand the Angel's son stilled his companions.

"Let this battle occur between me and him only, let no one interfere."

The Angel and his son fought as before. The smash of blade on blade was like thunder, the scream of steel on steel deafening to all who heard it. At last after a titanic struggle that shook the worlds the Angel had fallen and the Son stood full in his power at long last.

Sheathing his blade in earth did the Angel's son announce to the world that he would not slay his father to release the King of Spirits.

Curses fell from the Angel's lips, curses stained in red life's blood. Chastising the child for his weakness did the Angel raise his hand and break the seal by spilling forth the energies of his soul. He was again denied death, for the Angel's eldest friend came forth from the darkness and fought back death by offering the fallen Angel a shard of his life.

Death fled the light, the life, and down from the heavens, stepping through the either of creation and transcending time the King of Spirits stood before them. His form was that of a mighty champion, a four armed man who wielded the blade of past, present, future and of a time that could never be. With flaming eyes, and writhing form that was part animal, part man, he shone with a brilliance that made it seem as if the stars themselves ran through his blood. So was his form when the King of All came unto their presence.

He existed in past, presence, and future; saw all, and knew their plans and hopes and dreams. At first he denied them their wish. And pure were there words, and pleas, and only when the Angel's son proclaimed that with or without he would mend and purge the world was the King appeased. And so he gifted them the blade of Eternity. Its edges were made of glittering stars, its hilt of inter woven gold and silver, the cross bar marked with the ruby passion of present and the chilling sapphire touch of past. He gifted the Angel's son with the power of the Gods.

Furious was the fallen child-God, his spirit disquiet, it broke the bonds of death to steal the last Chosen and he stole her and bound her to heaven. Enraged, with the power of the Gods and companions besides the son of the Angel went to the tower of heaven and it was in spite that the child-God broke the great Spire of Heaven and blocked the path with dark destruction.

The Angel called forth the light, and with his wisdom brought them to the feet of the fallen spire and the Angel's son brought forth Eternity and made the distance as nothing with a thought. At the feet of the tainted castle did the Angel's son save the last Chosen, his love, and soon to be wife, and at the gates did a great fell magic rip asunder the companions. Scattered about the mockery of heaven, the city of pure light, the companions had to fight their dark selves, the demons that live in all mortal's hearts.

Faced with the ghost of his son the Angel was mocked and ridiculed for his dreams of humanity, barred was he from feeling the compassion of his son for his betrayal when first they went to the spire of Heaven.

The Assassin filled with fiery passion faced the ghost of her past sin and failure; she was brought low by the traitor and weakness that lie within.

Angel and Assassin were therefore the Cowards, fleeing their own darkness never confronting, seeking only surface redemption and denying themselves their true redemption by fleeing the past.

So ran they did from ghosts and voices until the Angels' son called to them and banished all illusions made by the child-God's magic and the shadows in their hearts.

Locked in an open cell, barred from freedom were the Nobel and Soulless child. Racing to them did the Angel's son show them that the gate was open, and they did step out, but the Child-god denied them the once captives their sight. While the world about them seemed whole the Angel's son did not exist for their eyes.

Only one ghost approached them, the woman who the Nobel had killed.

She offered them vengeance, offered the Soulless false redemption of hatred and offered the Nobel the false redemption of punishment instead of truly mending the world and fixing the lives of those his sins had ripped asunder.

So though free they were bound, by guilt from their past, so Nobel and Soulless were the guilty, locking their hearts within cages and by doing so denied themselves pain and true redemption.

Both were deceived by the ghost, and both seemed ready to submit to the false woman's words until the Angel's son called to them and freed them from the final chains of their guilt. He offered them a long path, of pain and of hope, and their eyes opened and saw truly at his worlds. They set aside the blade of vengeance and picked up that of hope and joined him once more.

Within a chamber of mirrors were two reflections with no form standing before the glass. Trapped in the thoughts of their dark birth were the Teacher and magi-child. Rejected by both humans and Mother they stood in the shadowed glass, shame and grief twisting to hate under the ghost's relentless words.

Bound by blood, as almost one, they stood as one, their resolve weakening. The Lord of Heaven's lies that had lured them to trust once before slid in their minds. Unable to move, unable to act, for the mirror was them and he could not cross that arcane boundary, the Angel's son spoke but none could hear him.

Words and promises, of hatred undying, of fleeing the hate that would never change, of changing the world so hate would have no choice to die, did the Lord of Heaven spake, and seeing the lies as they were the Angel's son lost all patience and cast his fist against he mirror.

The glass did shatter; as did the Lord's lies, for with his presence and loyalty did the Angel's son prove the child-God wrong. There were no words needed, and soundlessly, forsaking but forever remembering, their dark past. The angel's half blood friends rejoined him.

Together they went to the feet of the castle, to the dark heart the ascended and their in a throne amongst the swirling chaos, of power tainted with madness did the Angel's son and his companions confront the ghost of the self proclaimed Lord of Heaven. Making himself alive once more, breaking free of Death to embrace a mockery of life, he rose as a mortal and as a demon of steel and mana and they slay-ed the lifeless monster the fallen Hero of ages past, Master of Heaven, had made himself to become.

Destruction set aside, so too was the great blade, after one last final wish, that the worlds be made whole and life flourish.

And _that_ lead to the true Regeneration of the world.


End file.
